Functional tricuspid regurgitation and right ventricular dysfunction in pulmonary hypertension.

This study examined the effects of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) on the relation between right ventricular (RV) ejection fraction and mean pulmonary pressure. The significant inverse relation between RV ejection fraction and pulmonary artery pressure for the entire group (n = 95, r = -0.38, p less than 0.001) was improved either by looking only at the subset without TR (n = 56, r = -0.54, p less than 0.001) or by combining the RV ejection fraction with the angiographic grade of TR using multivariate analysis (n = 95, r = -0.52, p less than 0.001). Pulmonary hypertension was associated with the development of angiographic TR. These data support the concept that in using the RV ejection fraction as a measure of RV systolic function, it is necessary to consider the presence or absence of TR.